Paul Davies has been a gaming journalist since 1992, including editing Computer and Videogames (CVG) magazine and more recently writing for Top Gear, GameTap (in the US), London Evening Standard and Yahoo! UK. He has also experienced life on the other side of the fence, working in Concept Design Management for various gaming companies and on titles including Burnout and Airblade, amongst others.
We asked him to take a look back over the past year in the life of the PS3 and how he thinks the future is looking. Over to Paul.
::
While you’ve been enjoying yourself and generally living your life to the full in 2007, some of us have been getting our knickers in a twist over the new PlayStation. Like our life depends on it, in fact. And maybe it does? Nah, shut up.
In its own way, to a select group of observers, PlayStation 3 has been the spectacle of the year and not always in a good way. It has almost been an Amy Winehouse experience from the point of view of games industry professionals. How could something so valuable and desired, so dear to its management and loved by its audience, suddenly be collapsing into confusion and having its most dedicated followers turning their backs? Sony had appeared to have lost the plot: launching in March (‘late’) at an elitist price-point; an attractive but unconvincing range of launch titles; that whole business (still ongoing) regarding backward compatibility.
But the ongoing trials of PS3 have gone largely unnoticed by UK punters. Discussing PS3 innards is about as thrilling as fretting over design specifications of a washer / dryer. It keeps specialist websites busy, and bizarrely even sites whose role it is to satire the specialist sites, but there has been no real scandal. Very few people are waking up in the early hours of the morning in a cold sweat because Unreal Tournament 3 will now be released in early 2008 instead of late 2007. My Dad isn’t phoning me to discuss the lack of USB ports on the £300 model PS3.
True enough, however, that even though normal people aren’t busying themselves with what PS3 might be doing wrong, they’re sure enough not going to sit up and notice until something happens along that gets everything so right. People are falling over themselves to buy Nintendo Wii because it has Wii Sports and they can afford it.
PlayStation 3 hasn’t been a popular option for regular folks in search of new and exciting entertainment before now, but the reason is dead simple: too expensive, not enough good games; certainly not the game worth bragging to your mates about in the office or pestering your folks for at home. And similarly the reason why PS3 is now, in my view, suddenly the Hot New Thing for Christmas 2007 and beyond is that more households consider £300 to be about right for what you get out of the box, and just as importantly the games are now here. Come on, it’s not difficult.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that PS3 sell through has been accelerating worldwide since the price drop, and since Gran Turismo 5, Uncharted and SingStar became imminent. Twelve months ago PS3 was almost a non starter in Japan; you could go out and buy two if you wanted. We’ve seen Xbox 360 sell more than PS3 in Japan during one week in November. But look at November sales overall in this influential part of the gaming world and PS3 outsold even Wii, the Hot New Thing of 2006.
I’ll admit to being amused that PS3 is tracked at being neck and neck with Xbox 360 year-on-year in global sales, despite the flack and some genuine concern. But I’m not going to be surprised when PlayStation 3 sales increase momentum throughout 2008. Not that I see Blu-ray helping Sony move things forward this next 12 months any more than it has done already for PS3 – i.e. not much, as most people don’t see the benefit. Then again neither do I believe the lack of backwards compatibility with PSone and PS2 games will hold it back – you can’t play these games on Xbox 360 or Wii either don’t you know. Folks still buying PS2 for SingStar and Buzz aren’t going to be interested in PS3 for a good while yet. Guys looking to bring something cool home this Christmas and beyond are looking to PS3.
Why? Well, because PS3 is now looking the part and playing the part of Next Generation PlayStation in the minds of the average consumer. SingStar especially is a huge step forward compared to a similar experience on PS2. For me, SingStar is the first next generation game to give mainstream audiences a compelling reason to share the fun online. Downloading tracks, strutting your stuff, laughing at videos created by other fools pratting about for the camera like You’ve Been Framed meets Kids From Fame. You think you were having on fun on PS2? Watch this.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune puts PS3 in a territory that rival consoles cannot approach either technically or creatively, simply because Naughty Dog are such an important team working exclusively for Sony. And more broadly speaking, we should be welcoming PlayTV for those folks buying into PS3 as an entertainment centre that may not, shock, be used predominantly for gaming.
Even titles launched earlier in the year deserve renewed interest. Warhawk takes a genius pick-up-and-play approach to a futuristic battlefield that you can drop in or out of any time. Though Ratchet and Clank hasn’t been entirely suited to the existing PS3 user base, we could see this emerge as an evergreen title simply because it is so much fun, surprisingly clever (it’s Insomniac after all) and clearly a huge visual step beyond PS2.
And all this is a huge relief. Because just as the music industry needs Amy Winehouse to turn a new leaf and take care of herself, PS3 needed to turn this corner not just for Sony but for the games industry, and so that we can all find new ways to be entertained. That is unless we don’t mind videogames reverting back to being mainly for kids and diehard hobbyists.
Paul Davies
Amen to that…..
Comment by Anonymous — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
You forgot to mention that the PSN is aiming it’s sights squarely at both MS’s XBox Live! and iTunes (and more) in 2008 and all still for free. And don’t forget ‘Home’ either, which could well shape up nicely. Maybe.
)
Comment by vibe666 — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
Very clever, and very true.
We’ve all seen that the PS3 is on the up and this is only a good thing for everyone involved.
Lets just hope that next year is better for the PS3 and we can put the mess that is 2007 behind us.
It really really needs its killer ap still. Your regular Singstar user is still happy with their PS2 copy and whatever other version is due next. Wii has it’s sports, 360 has its multiple FPS and rather nice xmas lineup. Its all recognisable stuff while there is nothing hitting the regular consumers eyes when it comes to the PS3. Even in this article there has been very little mention of games, what were there up there? 5? Don’t even get me started on the absolutely terrible marketing campaigns that Sony run.
Next year NEEDS to be different on so many levels for the PS3.
Comment by Arthur The Magnificant Squirrel — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
You are trying to justify Sony’s recent blunders by comparing yourself to Amy Winehouse?
Where do i even begin?
*big breath in*
aaaaaaHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAaaa!!!!!
Comment by russ — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
I hear you Paul. I really do. No longer is the price or hardware spec the issue. Now it’s down to the games, and if I may say, the games companies. I say, no more shoddy ports, or half arsed multiplatform titles that don’t push either platform to their best. Other than that, I can see a rosy future. Next year already looks to be expensive for me in terms of releases. Every month, there seems to be at least one good title clamouring for my wonga. And who am I to argue.
Now, where are the DualShock3’s when I want one?
Comment by LordOfRuin — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
so…..THIS is sony.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fsz5NPXteKc
Comment by russ — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
Great summary, 2008 is going to be great for Sony and the PS3.
Comment by Nathaniel — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
excellent piece - bring on singstar
Comment by KITSON — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
Sometimes I have the thought “what if Sony and Nintendo merged”.
In the past that was how the PS1 was created - through collaboration with the two companies…would be interesting if they were to make a console together….*dreams*
Comment by JohnSketch — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
oh wow. what a great read!
Comment by TripleTags.com — Dec 13, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
If Sony and Nintendo merged, I’d be buying a 360 to get away from the flood of tired Mario games.
Comment by Paranoimia — Dec 13, 2007 @ 2:13 pm
The day the number of PS3’s sold races past m$’s I can breathe a sigh of relief and say “that was close, don’t ever scare us like that again SONY!”.
Comment by Kamiboy — Dec 13, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
2008 has the potential to be a steller year for the PS3. So don’t f*ck it up Sony. Nail the basics - and polish up those bells’n'whisltes.
Comment by Blue Gene — Dec 13, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
This seems out of touch with reality to me. I know first hand from lots of normal people (The people I work with, friends, family etc) that the average UK punter is impacted by things like the delay, attitude to Europe, Backwards compatibility, lack of games, poor quality 360 ports etc. I’m still the only person at work with a PS3 and when I ask others why they don’t have a PS3 they usually respond with one of the problems I’ve mentioned above.
Sony need to be careful in 2008, there are to many people who are taking it for granted that 2008 is going to be a great year and that it’s in the bag. Well it isn’t, the potential is there for Sony to make 2008 a great year, if they fail then it could see the PS3 fail to match the 360 or Wii. This means that it is up to Sony to pull their fingers out and make sure that the PS3 is the success it should be in 2008. I hope they do it because it will be good for gamers.
Comment by Mark Thompson — Dec 13, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
If he truly believes that the PS3 problems have gone largely unnoticed in the UK then he is totally deluded.
Even Sony must notice that we it’s customers have been endlessly complaining about how SCEE carries out it’s business otherwise why would they entertain releasing this disgusting piece of propaganda?
Comment by Ton Capone — Dec 13, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
I think this article nails it pretty well. I have amused myself by following the play.com and amazon.co.uk sales chart on a semi-regular basis for the last 6 Months and things have really started to pick up for the PS3. In comparison with the Xbox360 the PS3 has for the most part been outselling the Xbox360 ever since the price drop and launch of the 40GB model. In the beginning it was of course the remaining 60GB models selling like hotcakes, then there was a small period of slump, until the 40GB models starting selling well as we started to gear up for Christmas.
Another interesting point was the Amazon.co.uk super rebate vote earlier this week. Where you could vote between getting a 75% rebate on either a PS3, Wii or Xbox360. If you voted for the winning system you could be among 250 people getting your machine for around 70GBP. The final voted ended up being something like 48% PS3, 41% Wii and 11% Xbox360. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t in the group of 250 people who actually got the deal or I know some kids back home whose Christmas would be secured
One thing I do disagree with Paul Davies on though is the impact of Blu-Ray. For sure this first year Blu-Ray has been helped by the PS3 much more than the other way around. But I think we are nearing/at a turning point now. For instance I noticed that just a few weeks ago my local ASDA store here in the UK stopped selling HD DVD movies and at the same time doubled their Blu-Ray sales area. Anecdotal evidence for sure, but the official sales charts seem to say the same here in Europe, that Blu-Ray has cornered the market thanks the PS3 and should now be reaching a level of market awarness that the PS3 Blu-Ray support should start being a true selling point.
Comment by Christian — Dec 13, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
do calm down Ton. I can see what you’re saying but I don’t think this could be considered ‘propoganda’. the writer’s probably right in so much as for the more casual gamer the issues we worry about are hardly on the radar
Comment by Bazil Bucks — Dec 13, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
“I have amused myself by following the play.com and amazon.co.uk sales chart on a semi-regular basis for the last 6 Months”
Someone is easily pleased.
“the Amazon.co.uk super rebate vote”
When the hell did this happen? This was nowhere on the internet! Who made this up?
“local ASDA store here in the UK stopped selling HD DVD movies”
Yes ASDA are known to be at the forefront of video sales.
“Sony need to be careful in 2008, there are to many people who are taking it for granted that 2008 is going to be a great year and that it’s in the bag”
Agreed there is a lot of work to do next year. Sony has a massive amount of damage control to do in the public eye.
Metal Gear 4 needs to retain its exclusivity and actually get released. In order to survive PS3 needs big names. So far it hasn’t had ANY.
Comment by Arthur The Magnificant Squirrel — Dec 13, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
So if the wii and xbox360 don’t do B/C then PS3 shouldn’t??? RUBBISH!!!!!!!!!!! SONY said PS3 will be 100% B/C!!! Mistake they took it out(for PS2 games) Thats why i got a 60GB PS3 now! Don’t want one with no B/C for PS2 games!
+I’m sure 2008 will be a good year for the PS3!!!;)
Comment by Carl G — Dec 13, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
@18: The amazon thing can be viewed here:
http://promotions.amazon.co.uk/gp/holiday/amazon-customers-vote/
If you click the back arrow you will see the round 1 vote.
And regarding ASDA you made my point, looking at what non-specialist stores are doing is often the best indicator of the bigger trends in the marketplace than the specialist stores. Specialist stores always ship ‘everything’ anyway.
I also think you have an inflated view of what constitute a big game. A wide selection and enough interesting exclusives is enough. No one game is going to make or break a platform.
Comment by Christian — Dec 13, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
We shalll wait and see won’t we.
Basically I was bought by the hype, got disappointed but i’m still here. Sony need to stop making stupid adverts and make 2008 their year.
I would rather see home get scrapped and have all the time and resources poured into making the existing PSN truly global. I don’t care about walking round a virtual house I want the latest content - NOW. Call me impatient but isn’t this the generation of things on demand.
In my eyes, if they had kept Resident Evil 5 & Devil May Cry exclusive it would have been a lot easier. I have a feeling MGS4 will appear on the 360…
Comment by Terry — Dec 13, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
@Terry: Well I think going forward both Sony and Microsoft will have a harder and harder time to get 3rd party developers offering exclusives. The amount of money they would demand to create such are increasing for each PS3 and Xbox360 sold. I think the introduction of timed exclusives are a good example of how they are trying to keep the costs of ‘exclusives’ down. Wether MGS4 is a timed exclusive or a permanent one we will not know for sure until either it gets released on the xbox or a year+ has gone by. Just like we can’t be sure that Bioshock isn’t a timed exclusive for a similar amount of time has gone by. Seems most of the timed exclusive contracts also stipulate full denial of any ports being underway until the exclusivity period has passed.
But I also think this shows why Sony probably is right to focus so hard on having a strong team of 1st party developers. As it is the only way to ensure a good stable of exclusives. Microsoft on the other hand will find it more and more painful to get good exclusives not having so many 1st party development studios.
Comment by Christian — Dec 13, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
What a load of poppycock! This article is VERY biased and glosses over the complete apathy and downright hatred displayed by Fony towards its UK/European fans. Does he really think all people have such a short memory?
The PS3 is in NO WAY out of the woods yet - one month of sales as a knee-jerk reaction to the price drop is not enough - because the gapingly open wound of no backwards compatibility is still VERY MUCH in the minds of many a disappointed PS2 owner, who’d love to give their unit to their little brother and upgrade to PS3, while still being able to finish off those fave PS2 games or at least de-clutter the space under the TV.
Does the author not realise that the very fact that Wii and X360 are doing so well is because of the debacle made by Sony on the launch of the PS3?
When you have a bad experience at a restaurant (food takes ages, it’s cold, they get your order wrong, they forget the salad but charge you for it, they get the bill wrong, you find a hair in your soup, the food is tasteless and so on), do you ever go back there again? I think not.
One good title (Uncharted) does NOT make up for the dearth of rubbish and poor ports and rushed releases out there. You only need to read the disappointments over PES2008 to realise that.
Fony’s release, pricing, backtracking, back-stabbing (DualShock3), betrayal (US and Jap markets get more units and models and SO MUCH cheaper) and downright contempt to UK/Euro fans (late PSN Store releases and extortionate downloads) cannot be wiped off with a simple, poorly conceived, advert of an article from someone who’s clearly been paid off by Fony.
I’m one of those “dedicated followers turning their backs” and I see NOTHING of interest from Fony this Xmas to make me change my mind about PS3.
Comment by Zed Zee — Dec 13, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
Wow, anyone would think that Zed Zee was paid to write anti-Sony stuff like that…..
Comment by Rokker — Dec 13, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
I agree with Zed Zee
Comment by Carl — Dec 13, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
Zed Zee = RRoD
So obvious it ain’t funny.
Comment by Jay — Dec 13, 2007 @ 9:42 pm
I am big fan of ps3 and psp but in all fairness i thnk sony lost the cool touch with the public.
the advert for christmas(the entertainer) looks like coming out of a gay clown’s bad dream(nothing antigay by the way)…..
And when i see on internet a superb video who shows ps3 recent and future games with a great rock sountrack(ladies and gentleman), i really think you guys have completely lost touch with what advertising is all about.
Look nintendo, no bulshit advert, they just show the only thing people want to see, the games!!!!!
Comment by chrissave — Dec 13, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
@ Carl and chrissave: Thanx and I agree with what you say about the ads.
@ Rokker and Jay:
Actually, no, I’m not paid by Microsoft or Nintendo and I was not being funny nor do I own a X360/Revolution.
There’s nothing in my post that’s not true. I’m merely stating facts and history that’s happened since that fateful day in Nov ‘06, when Fony decided to delay their third gen console and stiff UK/Euro gamers.
From that moment onwards, it was a decline in fortunes and unfortunately, for them, it’s now an uphill struggle to prize the number one spot out of Microsoft/Nintendo’s hands - whichever one you think is the leader right now.
The only thing that Fony has going for it is the fact that people hate Microsoft’s console and would therefore never subscribe to anything that it represents and that Nintendo have put themselves so far out of the ‘mainstream’ games market that they’ve managed to alienate many people. Those are the only things that can be viewed as positives.
Everything else, delayed launch, expensive price, late PSN releases, extortionate game prices (packaged and PSN), shoddily-written games/ports, a decline in exclusives, DualShock3 delay etc. These are all FACTS that CANNOT be denied, because they’re now part of HISTORY. Anyone trying to gloss over this (as this article is clearly attempting) or denies them, is merely fooling themselves and pathetically justifying their expensive purchase to themselves.
I may be a PlayStation loyal fan but I’m not blind. The very fact that I sound bitter is BECAUSE I’m disappointed with how my one true console choice has been botched by the very same company that makes it.
Over & Out.
Comment by Zed Zee — Dec 14, 2007 @ 9:26 am
did you see what zed zee did there??
he took the ’s’ out of sony and replaced it with an ‘f’ thus creating the amusing term ‘fony’
hey zed! give yourself a big pat on the back…
(or are you actually george micheal under disguise?)
;)
Comment by seedaripper1973 — Dec 15, 2007 @ 10:45 am
It’s not moded so I am not buying. Thats the word on the street. Just when Ps2 was released every big title was available at a price of coke in form of copied disk in 3rd world countires and developed countries had the power of broadband internet to do the job and guess what, Is PS3 getting moded no? If even it does does every body has a Blu ray DVD burner or net to download a 15-30GB game no?
It’s killing its own fanboys, those fanboys who played on the moded console. I can say that out of 120 million PS2 sold 110 million or more have been moded till now.I am not supporting them but just telling the facts. Just ask yourself do you use a unmoded PS2.
Its a hard fact but for good or bad if PS3 doesnt follows its family path then its not gonna make any impact.
Comment by Anonymus — Dec 15, 2007 @ 9:08 pm
Ugh it’s a pissing contest is it?
*gulps down a pitcher*
I’ll drown you all!
Calm yourselves though boys!
Comment by JohnSketch — Dec 16, 2007 @ 1:34 am
Threespeech stop these retarded posts. LBP will arrive this spring. Also you’v totally ignored most of the big games. When you are regarded as a semi official blog these speculation posts are very silly dont you think?.
Comment by jasp — Dec 16, 2007 @ 3:26 pm
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